Scroll through images from Stradanus’s Nova reperta, a series of engravings representing geographical, navigational, and astronomical discoveries as well as mechanical and manufacturing innovations from milling and metallurgical techniques to oil painting and printing. For most inventions, the Nova reperta offered a compressed view of each step in the production process within a unified and densely populated pictorial space, according to Susan Dackerman’s catalog for Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe. Learn more about this Harvard Art Museums exhibit in Jennifer Carling and Jonathan Shaw’s article “Spheres of Knowledge,” from the November-December 2011 issue.
Inventions in Early Modern Europe
Images from Stradanus’s "Nova reperta," a series of engravings representing technological innovations of the modern age from the perspective of a practicing artist
Theodore Galle, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Discovery of America, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Hans Collaert the Younger, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Invention of the Compass, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Unknown engraver, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Invention of Book Printing, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Unknown engraver, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Invention of Clockwork, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Unknown engraver, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Discovery of Guaiacum as a Cure for Venereal Infection, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Unknown engraver, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Invention of Distillation, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Hans Collaert the Younger, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Invention of Eyeglasses, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Hans Collaert the Younger, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Discovery of the Establishment of the Longitudes, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
Hans Collaert the Younger, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), Amerigo Vespucci Discovering the Southern Cross with an Astrolabe, from Nova reperta (New inventions and discoveries of modern times), c. 1599–1603. Engraving. | Photograph courtesy of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston.
You might also like
From competing in youth gymnastics to studying tetrapods, the Harvard curator has always chased her curiosity.
In June, the Harvard community lost two titans who helped bring the University into the modern era.
College staff whose jobs will be changed or eliminated were notified this week.
Most popular
Explore More From Current Issue
Harvard Art Museums restores a rare glimpse of an American master.
Inseparable cows, big dogs fostering a tiny kitten, and a show beagle’s second act
The 2026-2027 Ledecky and Summer Undergraduate Fellows